Chapter 1 The Social Problems Process Defining Social Problems Slide 1 What is a social problem? Defining Social Problems Slide 2  Objectivist definitions of social problems  Conditions considered objectively harmful include crime, racism, and sexism.  Objectivist definitions attempt to measure the characteristics of harmful conditions. Defining Social Problems Slide 3  Problems with objectivist definitions 1. Harmful conditions are not always identified as social problems.  Sexism was not considered a social problem until recently. 2. Conditions that some identify as harmful may not be considered harmful by others. Defining Social Problems Slide 4  Problems with objectivist definitions 3. Social problems are very diverse, so definitions that try to include them all are often vague. 4. It can be difficult to specify what constitutes harm.  Not everyone will agree if or why a condition is harmful. Defining Social Problems Slide 5  Constructionism (subjectivist approach)  Conditions are not viewed as problems because of objective standards.  They are problems because people think they are.  What matters is people’s responses to, and perceptions of, harmful conditions. Defining Social Problems Slide 6  What makes a social problem?  Subjective reactions, not an objective quality.  Social problems vary by country because experiences shape what we see as bad.  Social problems are not a type of condition, but rather a process of responding to conditions.  That process involves social construction. Defining Social Problems Slide 7  Constructionism  Social construction refers to the way people assign meaning to the world.  Language plays a key role in the construction process.  Individuals learn about and understand their world by naming things and talking about them. Defining Social Problems Slide 8  The social problems process  The only thing social problems have in common is that some people have defined them as social problems.  How and why do particular conditions come to be constructed as social problems? Defining Social Problems Slide 9  Claim: a statement asserting that a condition is troubling or harmful  Claimsmaking: asserting that a condition should be perceived as a social problem  Claimsmakers: individuals or groups seeking to convince others that a condition is troubling and that something should be done  Activists, experts, and officials Natural History of a Social Problem Slide 1  The process of constructing a social condition into a social problem has six stages.  The sequence of these stages is the natural history of the social problem. Natural History of a Social Problem Slide 2  Stage 1: Claimsmaking  People make claims that there is a problem.  Stage 2: Media coverage  Media report on claimsmakers.  Stage 3: Public reactions  Public opinion focuses on the social pr.

1. Chapter 1
The Social
Problems
Process
Defining Social Problems
Slide 1
What is a social problem?
Defining Social Problems
Slide 2
include crime, racism, and sexism.
characteristics of harmful conditions.
Defining Social Problems

2. Slide 3
1. Harmful conditions are not always identified
as social problems.
until recently.
2. Conditions that some identify as harmful may
not be considered harmful by others.
Defining Social Problems
Slide 4
3. Social problems are very diverse, so
definitions that try to include them all are
often vague.
4. It can be difficult to specify what constitutes
harm.
harmful.

3. Defining Social Problems
Slide 5
because of objective standards.
are.
perceptions of, harmful conditions.
Defining Social Problems
Slide 6
experiences shape what we see as bad.
rather a process of responding to conditions.

4. Defining Social Problems
Slide 7
assign meaning to the world.
in the construction
process.
world by naming things and talking about them.
Defining Social Problems
Slide 8
common is that some people have defined
them as social problems.

5. be constructed as social problems?
Defining Social Problems
Slide 9
is troubling or harmful
making: asserting that a condition
should be perceived as a social problem
to convince others that a condition is
troubling and that something should be done
Natural History of a Social Problem
Slide 1
into a social problem has six stages.
history of the social problem.

6. Natural History of a Social Problem
Slide 2
Natural History of a Social Problem
Slide 3

7. CHAPTER 1: THE SOCIAL PROBLEMS PROCESS
■ Defining Social Problems
■ Objectivist definition
■ Locates a harmful condition
■ Attempts to measure (count) the characteristics of that
harmful condition
■ Problems with objectivist definition
■ We worry about some conditions but sometimes the measures
do not show that the
worry is all that harmful to that many people
■ We don’t worry about other harmful conditions when the
measures show that the harm
is significant to a large number of people
■ Not everyone may agree why a condition is harmful because
individuals use different
objective standards to identify that a condition is harmful
■ The definition of harm varies from condition to condition; no
one standard is used to
define this key term
■ Constructionist definition (also known as subjectivist

8. approach)
■ Conditions are viewed as problems not because of objective
standards but because
people think they are problems
■ Conversely, if people do not perceive a condition to be
troublesome, they will not define it
as a social problem; what matters is people’s response to and
perceptions of troubling
conditions
■ So the list of social problems changes over time as people’s
opinions shift
■ Different countries will have different lists of social problems
because their distinct
experiences and cultures will shape what they see as troubling
■ Therefore, this definition focuses on people’s claims about
conditions
■ Constructionism
■ Ways in which people assign meaning to world
■ Language plays a key role in the construction process,
because individuals learn about
and typify their world through naming it and talking about it
■ The social problems process (constructionism)

9. ■ Begins with the recognition that the only thing that social
problems have in common is that
some people have defined/constructed them that way
■ Key terms
■ Claim: Statement or action or nonverbal gesture that
highlights a troubling condition
■ Claimsmaking: When an individual or a group says that a
condition should be perceived
as troubling, in other words, as a social problem
■ Claimsmakers: People who feel that something is wrong and
that something should be
done about it
■ Natural history of a social problem: Interactive social process
by which some individuals or
groups state claims about a troubling condition in order to
attract the attention of
policymakers and the general public, in order to make change
■ Stage 1: Claimsmaking
■ Stage 2: Media coverage
■ Stage 3: Public reaction

10. ■ Stage 4: Policymaking
■ Stage 5: Social problems work (implementation, often on a
microscopic, interactive level)
■ Stage 6: Policy outcomes